Architecture in Asmara: Colonial Origin and Postcolonial Experience

The ancient city of Asmara is the capital of Eritrea and its largest settlement. Its beautiful architecture was rediscovered by outsiders in the early 1990s. In this book, the authors offer an original analysis of the colonial city, providing a history not only of the physical and visible urban reality, but also of a second, invisible city as it exists in the imagination. The colonial city becomes a fantastical set of cities where each one reflects the others as if in a kaleidoscope. This book breaks new ground and moves us a little further along in the attempt to decipher Asmara in terms of contemporary theory. The book brings together scholars from a multiplicity of disciplines who have shown the ways in which colonial and postcolonial criticism has served as a platform for new, diversified readings of Asmara. The book examines the current realities of Asmara in order to address the continuing effects of the legacy of colonialism upon the city dwellers.

Peter Volgger studied philosophy, history and art history at Innsbruck University. Since 2003 he has worked as a freelance architect. He recently joined the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture and the Institut für Gestaltung at Innsbruck University (Associate Professor) and the Institute for Architecture and Planning at Liechtenstein University (Guest Professor) as a_ teacher and researcher. He is a member of the kulturhauptstad 2024_ initiative in Vienna. Since 2012 he has conducted research work in Eritrea. He is a_ member of the Research Center for Migration and Globalisation in Innsbruck.

Stefan Graf is an architect and art historian. The academic field of Architectural Theory offered the possibility to satisfy his multifaceted interests in art, architecture and cultural theory. He wrote his diploma thesis about Asmara and was part of the research project Asmara – The Sleeping Beauty. His fi eld of research includes history, urban planning and the relationship between the historic part of the CARP and Greater Asmara.